To tune or not to tune (tuning by James tune)

[Bikeman315]

not the answer I wanted Bikerman but I appreciate you being the responsible one and talking sense into me lol

Check this out. https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...wont-void-warranty.134627/page-4#post-2779261 Post # 52.
What kind of numbers is James giving you? Is it really enough to make it worth your while? Mind you, I'm not doubting the quality of the tune. I also highly doubt there will be any issues with it assuming your engine is good now. Also what other mods are you going to make to support the tune?
I'm just wondering how many people do this and then wonder why.

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[Eight5.0]

I tuned my first V6 mustang (I was young and dumb and bought an auto V6 don’t judge me lol) in 2014 it made a big difference in the day to day enjoyment of the car. Also tuned my 2014 GT (bought it with a Boss 302 manifold installed and a bad tune, huge headache but was amazing once I got the car working properly) and that also improved the fun I got out of it.

The guy that sent me the tune for the Bullitt is the same guy that does all the tunes for Steeda and their McQueen edition Bullitt’s. He says you pick up 70 ft lbs of torque in the low end of the power band which would be huge for this car because it is so sluggish off the line. But overall, depending on the dyno, you get 455 or 470 rwhp (on a mustang dyno) and 405 to 420 for lbs torque (mustang dyno)

I was younger at the time I tuned both of those and didn’t even think about the warranty or issues the tune may have caused. Now being older and not much wiser I just wanted to put the feelers out there and see if anyone has this specific tune.

trust me I get that ford will deny claims because of the tune. My goal of this thread was to see if anyone else has the tune and how much they enjoy it.

 

[Staynumz]

I say tune it. I got a Cobb tune for my previous fiesta st. Really woke that car up. Also I’m not sure how Mustang tunes are but being able to monitor ignition corrections was interesting. I could tell right away that car didn’t like shell gasoline. Plus being able to read a cel that popped up later in its life and reset it was a good feature. I romped the hell out of that car for 128k before trading her in on the bullitt. Keep us informed. Good luck

 

[nms_1122]

Waited 2 years before I turned my '15 EcoBoost. It was a night day difference. Couldn't stand to drive the car without it. Tuned the Bullitt with Tuning by James after about 2 months of ownership. There is definitely a difference. To me, it's not as noticeable as it was with my EcoBoost, but I still say it is a worthwhile addition. The low end torque makes the car a whole lot more fun to drive. I go back to stock for the winter when I put my snow tires on. Plan on dropping the tune back on in the spring with my summer tires. I did have a powertrain light go on while I was back to stock and my dealer sorted it with no issues. No mention of a tune. I understand the warranty stuff is nerve wracking. Good luck!!

 

[Eight5.0]

I say tune it. I got a Cobb tune for my previous fiesta st. Really woke that car up. Also I’m not sure how Mustang tunes are but being able to monitor ignition corrections was interesting. I could tell right away that car didn’t like shell gasoline. Plus being able to read a cel that popped up later in its life and reset it was a good feature. I romped the hell out of that car for 128k before trading her in on the bullitt. Keep us informed. Good luck

I’ll tune mine if you tune yours lol

 

[Eight5.0]

Waited 2 years before I turned my '15 EcoBoost. It was a night day difference. Couldn't stand to drive the car without it. Tuned the Bullitt with Tuning by James after about 2 months of ownership. There is definitely a difference. To me, it's not as noticeable as it was with my EcoBoost, but I still say it is a worthwhile addition. The low end torque makes the car a whole lot more fun to drive. I go back to stock for the winter when I put my snow tires on. Plan on dropping the tune back on in the spring with my summer tires. I did have a powertrain light go on while I was back to stock and my dealer sorted it with no issues. No mention of a tune. I understand the warranty stuff is nerve wracking. Good luck!!

That’s awesome that they took care of power train light no questions asked! I wonder if it had to do with it being stock when the light came on. Maybe they just didn’t look... did they say what cause the light to come on and what the fix was?
Also the low end torque is what excites me the most about this tune.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback and point of view. I think this has been a productive thread.

 

[Staynumz]

I’ll tune mine if you tune yours lol

Don’t threaten me with a good time
I am going to tune mine. Reading stuff about these engines has me just a little concerned. When I clock 15k miles or so and I’m not experiencing any of the so called issues with these motors I’ll get a canned tune.
Personally I think a tune improves reliability on modern engines. My theory is they are factory tuned to run lean as possible for emission reasons. But I am no engine builder so there is always that.

 

[Zinc03svt]

Most of the power from tuning comes from the timing advance and vct tweaks. It is really very minor in the grand scheme of things you can do to a car. A pump tune is like 10-20 whp. You can always put the stock tune back in. ?? Lol...

 

[Schwerin]

Don’t threaten me with a good time
I am going to tune mine. Reading stuff about these engines has me just a little concerned. When I clock 15k miles or so and I’m not experiencing any of the so called issues with these motors I’ll get a canned tune.
Personally I think a tune improves reliability on modern engines. My theory is they are factory tuned to run lean as possible for emission reasons. But I am no engine builder so there is always that.

Factory tunes are usually a bit rich. Its why you typically get better MPG on a tune than stock. The custom tune is a little more lean and has better timing.

Example, in the early 00's Ford kept releasing "emissions updates" for the Escort ZX2. All it did was make the car more and more rich and was down from 123WHP pre-emissions tune to 105WHP post-emissions tune. You could literally just swap ECU's that had been updated for emissions with ones that had not and pick up anywhere from 10-15whp on the same dyno and same day in the same car. That's literally a 10-15% power jump.

 

[Eight5.0]

Most of the power from tuning comes from the timing advance and vct tweaks. It is really very minor in the grand scheme of things you can do to a car. A pump tune is like 10-20 whp. You can always put the stock tune back in. ?? Lol...

Yeah I would definitely do that if I ran into any issues but they can always check the ECU and see when a tune was loaded and unloaded. I’m still thinking on it.... my 2014 mustang GT was a modded monster but had so many issues so it’s nice to just have a factory car that I don’t have to worry about for once.

 

[Zinc03svt]

Yeah I would definitely do that if I ran into any issues but they can always check the ECU and see when a tune was loaded and unloaded. I’m still thinking on it.... my 2014 mustang GT was a modded monster but had so many issues so it’s nice to just have a factory car that I don’t have to worry about for once.

I had my first 93 tune loaded after arriving home from dealership. Tuned @ 100 miles on OD. E85 tune around 350. Lol.

 

[chesster51]

I had my first 93 tune loaded after arriving home from dealership. Tuned @ 100 miles on OD. E85 tune around 350. Lol.

A go getter right here! I like it

 

[Voo Doo]

I'm only at 2400. I drive dail,y but rarely get to go far. Sucks.

I'm going to wait till I have about 3 years under my belt on her. Till then I'm focusing on suspension, gearing, and small appearance things. The fact there are very few e85 stations near me also makes me hold off. Maybe in 3yrs it will be more viable in my area. Luckily Evolution and Lund are both super short drives from me so I have easy access to both.

3 Years??? Hope there’s still gas available ???? lol

 

[Bikeman315]

I'm waiting till my warranty is up or I'm comfortable enough that the engine is solid and nothing will happen to the engine for a long time.

I'm going to wait till I have about 3 years under my belt on her. Till then I'm focusing on suspension, gearing, and small appearance things. The fact there are very few e85 stations near me also makes me hold off. Maybe in 3yrs it will be more viable in my area. Luckily Evolution and Lund are both super short drives from me so I have easy access to both.

So a question that was brought up on another thread. Why are you waiting? If you do wait for the warranty to be up and something were to happen (which it most likely will not) the repair cost would be out of your pocket. If you do it now, and presuming your car is solid, and something goes wrong you would still be paying out of your pocket (if Ford denies the warranty claim). Either way you're paying and losing three years of enjoying your tuned ride. Then there is always the chance that any issue you have might be covered under warranty depending on your dealer. So long as your can afford and willing to pay the costs what difference does it make when you do it.

 

[Schwerin]

So a question that was brought up on another thread. Why are you waiting? If you do wait for the warranty to be up and something were to happen (which it most likely will not) the repair cost would be out of your pocket. If you do it now, and presuming your car is solid, and something goes wrong you would still be paying out of your pocket (if Ford denies the warranty claim). Either way you're paying and losing three years of enjoying your tuned ride. Then there is always the chance that any issue you have might be covered under warranty depending on your dealer. So long as your can afford and willing to pay the costs what difference does it make when you do it.

Because if you look at the people that had 5.0's fail they were mostly 5-7K range. I want to get past the range most have issues before I put extra stress on the engine that Ford wont cover.

Your flaw is in thinking I'm not enjoying my ride now. The difference is taking a risk of 8-10K out of pocket or not,

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